Is building a law practice a sprint or a marathon?

May 15, 2013 by
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If marketing is everything we do to get and keep good clients (and it is), then you would assume that building a law practice is a marathon, and you would be right.

It’s all of the little things you do, over time, not big things you do once or twice.

It is your daily habit of sending thank you notes or birthday cards. It is the way you always see clients on time and never make them wait. It is writing a blog or newsletter and consistently delivering valuable information in an interesting way. Any one of these “little things” might not make a difference by itself, but over time, your daily habits compound. One day, you find your practice has doubled and you don’t really know how.

But building a law practice can also be a sprint.

Let me explain.

Let’s say you are looking at your calendar for the next 90 days and mapping out what you’re going to do to get your name and face in front of your target market. You plan to line up some speaking engagements, publish some articles, and go to lunch with centers of influence you have identified.

Every week, you book something. You have two speaking engagement each month, a new article coming out once a month, and every Friday, you’re having lunch with another prospective referral source.

This is good.

But there’s another way you could approach this. Instead of spreading everything out over 90 days, what if you did everything over the next two weeks?

You speak every day. You have lunch with someone every day. All of your articles appear this week.

You cram in as much activity as possible over a short period of time.

Why? Because now, your target market sees you “everywhere”. In a two week period, they hear you speak, see your article, and hear your name mentioned by two people they know and respect.

You get noticed. People talk about you. And remember you.

This is why advertisers spend $20,000 to run a bunch of ads this week, rather than $1000 a week for twenty weeks. And why they will run those ads on TV, radio, in print, and online at the same time, rather than TV this week, radio next week, and print the week after that.

Whether you’re spending time or money, concentrating your expenditure in a short period of time allows you to make a bigger impact on your market.

A marathon is you dripping on your target market. A sprint is you opening a fire hose. Never stop running the marathon, but consider getting in a few sprints along the way.

You can build a big practice if you know The Formula. Go here.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan Tagged With: , ,

If you only had $100 a month for marketing, how would spend it?

May 14, 2013 by
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If you only had $100 a month for marketing, what would you do? Would you spend it on advertising? Join a networking group? Improve your website?

Want to know what I’d do? I’d spend it on myself.

I’d buy books and courses and takes classes and learn everything I could about marketing. Because the best investment a professional can make is an investment in themselves.

And, when I was a young pup of an attorney, just starting out and clueless about marketing, that’s exactly what I did.

I scoured the shelves of libraries and checked out everything I could find on marketing and small business. I visited bookstores once or twice a week and never came home empty handed. I talked to more experienced attorneys and asked them what they did to bring in business.

Of course learning is only part of the equation. If you want to bring in business, you actually have to do something. And so I did that, too. I tried all sorts of things and found out that I wasn’t very good at most of them. But because I tried lots of things, I found some that I was good at and actually enjoyed.

And that’s when things took off.

I found out I was good at writing and getting referrals from my clients, and that’s what I focused on. If I was starting out today, I would be doing the very same things but I would add one more: I would learn everything I could about marketing on the Internet.

So, learn everything, try lots of things, find one or two you like and are good at, and keep doing them.

But never stop investing in your education. Learn about advertising, even if you never advertise. Learn about sales, even though you are not sales person. Learn about networking, even though you’re shy.

Because while you may not DO what you learn, you will USE what you learn, somewhere in your marketing.

Continue (or start) your marketing education with this.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Personal development Tagged With: ,

Stop sending me these emails!

May 13, 2013 by
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I heard from a subscriber who was planning to sign up for my newsletter with a different email address but couldn’t figure out how to un-subscribe from her old email.

She knew she was supposed to scroll down to the link at the bottom of the email but when she hit some white space she thought it was the bottom of the email, stopped scrolling, and didn’t see the link.

It happens.

What I don’t get are the people who don’t know there is a way to un-subscribe. Like the one I heard from last week that huffed and puffed and said, “Stop sending me these emails!”

Lawyers.

Did he forget that he signed up? Did he not realize that he would be getting daily emails? Did he just lose a big case and need to yell at someone?

I don’t know. He didn’t say.

Here’s the point.

No matter how often you email your list, you will always have people who want to unsubscribe. Some think you email too often. Some are caught up in life and don’t read your emails and don’t know what they’re missing. Some haven’t heard from you in six months, don’t remember who you are, and think you are spamming them.

Lessons:

  • Provide value
  • Email often
  • Don’t worry about the ones who think you email too often. If you are providing value and they don’t appreciate it, they don’t deserve to be on your list.

Most people know how to remove themselves and you won’t hear from them. For the ones who don’t know what to do, it’s easy to remove them manually. I just scroll down to the bottom of the email they replied to and click the link.

As I’ve said before, you don’t want a list of 10,000 subscribers who don’t appreciate what you send them, don’t read it, and don’t hire you. Much better to have 200 who love what you say, read every word, and if they can’t hire you themselves, refer lots of their friends.

Anyway, every once in a while, you get a email like this one:

David,

Just wanted to let you know that I am unsubbing this email address from your newsletter ONLY because I thought the stuff you send is so good I ended up subscribing twice 🙂

Just to keep my inbox to a manageable I’m dropping back to just one subscription…though I must admit I was tempted to keep both just to make sure that I didn’t miss anything…

Good stuff!!

Best regards,

Dat’s what I’m talkin ’bout.

The Attorney Marketing Formula shows you how to get more clients and increase your income.

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Filed Under: Communication, Email, Marketing legal services, Newsletters

Say these words, get more referrals

May 10, 2013 by
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If you’re doing a good job for your clients, most of them should be willing to send you referrals. But they won’t unless someone asks them for a referral (“What was the name of your divorce lawyer?”) or starts talking about their legal issue (“I think I’m leaving Joe.”)

Your clients are willing to send business. But they won’t unless someone asks.

Of course that someone could be you. You want to get more referrals, don’t you?

I know, you don’t like asking for referrals. (“Do you have any friends who are getting divorced?”) Fortunately, there is an alternative.

Here’s what you do (and say):

Step one: Write something your prospective clients would want to read. A report, article, or blog post. You could also do a video, webinar, or teleconference.

If you are a divorce lawyer, you would normally write something about the law for people who are considering a divorce, but not this time. (I’ll tell you why in a minute). This time, write something that would appeal to married people in your state. It might be a guide to property ownership for married people, or a legal guide for parents.

Step two: Send it (or a link) to your clients and ask them to read (or watch) it and let you know what they think.

Step three: Assuming you get positive feedback, ask your clients the following: “Would you do me a big favor? Would you forward that link to five or ten (married people/parents) you know? I would really appreciate it.”

You’re not asking them to deduce who they know who might be having marital problems. That would be uncomfortable for them and you would be uncomfortable asking. You’re simply asking them to share your information with married people or parents they know and if it’s good information, they will.

Of course some of the people they send it to will need your services. And if they don’t, that’s okay. At the end of your report or post, ask the people who read it to share it with married people or parents they know. Yep. Some of them will need your services.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. When you ask your clients to refer people to your report or post, you’ll be reminding them to think about the people they know who might need your services and you’ll be one step closer to some referrals.

Ask your clients to refer your information, not your services.

I told you marketing was simple. Learn more here.

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Filed Under: List building, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Referrals, Relationship marketing Tagged With: , ,

Marketing your law practice one hour a week

May 9, 2013 by
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If you only have one hour a week for marketing your law practice, I would spend that time on the phone. Here’s how I would break it down:

  • Twenty minutes speaking to clients and former clients. I would call new clients to say thank you (in addition to sending them a thank you card) and current and former clients to see how they are doing. These people put food on your table and are your best source of new business. Speaking to them “off the clock” is a highly leveraged marketing activity.
  • Twenty minutes speaking to referral sources. I would call other professionals I work with, thank them for their recent referrals, look for ways I can do something to help them, and brainstorm ways we can work together to our mutual benefit.
  • Twenty minutes reaching out to other professionals. I would call people I don’t know, to introduce myself, find out what they do, and see if there is a way we could can work together to our mutual benefit.

A law practice is a people business. We talk to people to strengthen our relationships and cultivate new ones. If you can’t meet people face to face, the phone is the next best thing.

In some ways, the phone is even better than face to face because there is no travel time. So, with only one hour a week, I would smile and dial.

Of course if I had two hours a week for marketing, I would use the second hour to have lunch or coffee with people I know and people I want to know.

This shows you how to set up marketing joint ventures with other professionals. 

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Leverage, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Networking, Referral sources, Referrals, Relationship marketing Tagged With:

Building a high volume law practice

May 8, 2013 by
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When I started practicing, my goal was to build a high volume law practice. Lots and lots of smaller cases and clients.

Why?

Because there are more of them. I figured I had more chances to get small cases simply because there were more of them.

And because when I was getting started, I wasn’t good enough to handle the big ones.

But even when I was good enough, I still focused on small cases. My thinking was that a high volume of small to medium size cases would scale. As I brought in more business, I could hire more employees and get a bigger office. Or, as I later did, I could open a second office. And, if things didn’t work out, I could just as easily scale down.

Small cases meant smaller risk. Big cases require a big investment of time and resources and with only a handful of those cases, I could suffer some big losses if one or two went south.

The other reason is that a high volume law practice would make marketing easier. More clients meant more opportunities to get referrals from those clients. 500 clients meant 500 fishing lines in the water.

And I was right. I got lots of referrals. And life was good.

I always thought my exit strategy would be getting one or two monster cases that would allow me to cash out and be “done”. In law school, we heard that’s what our torts professor had done and it sounded good to me. But it never happened. I got some decent sized cases, but no monsters.

Many attorneys turn away small cases. They want bigger cases, with a bigger potential payoff, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

They probably don’t get as many referrals as I did, but the referrals they do get are bigger. If they’re really good, they get referrals from other attorneys who don’t handle big cases.

Some attorneys do it all. Small cases, medium cases, big cases. Bring it! The small cases allow the firm to finance the bigger cases. That works, too.

There’s no right or wrong way. You have to find your way.

If you aren’t (yet) a great attorney, be a prolific attorney. If you are a great attorney, you’ve got options.

If you want to get more clients and increase your income, learn The Formula.

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Filed Under: Law office management, Legal industry, Marketing legal services, Referrals, Relationship marketing Tagged With:

Contract work for lawyers

May 2, 2013 by
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In yesterday’s post, I wrote about how a new attorney should seek appearances and overflow work from other attorneys. This morning, I found some older articles I had written about contract work for lawyers

One article was my response to an attorney who asked for my advice in getting contract work. I suggested the following:

  1. Call everyone you know who is a lawyer and let them know what you are doing. Ask them to refer you to three attorneys they know who may need court appearances, research, etc.
  2. Call everyone to whom you are referred and tell them what you’re looking for. Ask them to refer you to three attorneys who may need court appearances, etc.
  3. Repeat this process, until you have personally spoken to 100 attorneys. Follow up with a letter reminding them about what you do. Stay in touch with them every 90 days.

A personal phone call is a great way to cut through the clutter. But you can also be successful by advertising, as I did, or by mailing, as the following email I received attests:

“I think that I was perhaps one of the first contract attorneys in LA County way back when (late 80s). It was unheard of to hire hourly legal assistance at law firms and I certainly didn’t think it would work. Nonetheless, I sent out 100 letters to a focused group of law firms offering my services. I received 30 responses, had approximately 10 meetings and got work from almost everyone that I spoke to.

I’m sure my early big law firm experience helped, as well as my education and other credentials. But mainly I think I owe my success to just being willing to do something that made no sense at all!”

Christine P.

To whom should you write?

1. YOUR COMPETITION

I got a lot of personal injury referrals from personal injury attorneys. They had cases that needed to be worked up for trial and didn’t have the time.

If an attorney is going to turn it away a case that’s too small or two weak for them, why not give it to you? Especially if you offer a referral fee (if allowed) or suggest that you will associate with them on bigger matters that may be over your head.

I also got lots of appearances. I remember one sole practitioner who had been ill and was essentially bed ridden. His wife was holding the fort in the office while he recuperated and hired me to do all of the court appearances, depos, and arbitrations.

Another time, an insurance defense firm had to do hundreds of depos in a short period of time and didn’t have the manpower. I was brought in, along with several other contract attorneys, and we worked every day for six weeks. I billed them thousands of dollars a week (this was a long time ago) and they billed their client. I’m sure they had a nice mark up.

2. LAWYERS IN OTHER PRACTICE AREAS

If they don’t do what you do, you have a chance to get better clients and cases referred to you. The challenge is that they may already have someone they refer to.

But they might not. Or maybe they don’t have someone in your geographic area. You won’t know unless you ask.

And, a lawyer who doesn’t have something for you today might have something for you two months from now when the lawyer they had been referring business to screws up or is too busy, the matter is too small, or there is a conflict of interest.

Also, the lawyer you contact may not have work for you but they may know someone who does. So, focus on building relationships. The work will come.

You might also send letters to lawyers and firms that are advertising to hire attorneys. They obviously have the work and are looking for help, and until they find it, you may be able to get some of that work.

Even the best and biggest law firms need help from time to time. There are temp firms that book attorneys, and you can certainly register with them. But I found that going direct to the source allowed me to get the best work and charge the highest fees. And, once a lawyer had used me once or twice and knew they could trust me and my work, they usually wanted to continue to use me, even though they could find much cheaper alternatives.

Like any kind of marketing, the hard part is getting your foot in the door. As soon as one firm hires you or refers business, ask them for referrals to other lawyers who might need contract work. One will lead to others.

Marketing is easier when you know The Formula.

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Filed Under: Advertising, Marketing legal services Tagged With: , , , ,

How does a new attorney get clients?

May 1, 2013 by
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Yes, how does a new attorney get clients? I remember when I was opening my practice this was something I desperately wanted to know. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a good answer.

I was told that I should do the following:

  1. Send engraved announcements to everyone you know announcing your new practice
  2. Pass out business cards to everyone you meet
  3. Join groups where you can network and pass out cards to everyone you meet
  4. And, that was about it.

There was no Internet in those days. Yellow pages advertising was too expensive. Besides, I’d have to wait months for the book to come out and I needed business immediately.

I didn’t send out announcements, but I did tell everyone that I had opened my own practice. That brought in exactly zero business. I didn’t do any networking. I was 23 years old and looked it, and I didn’t think anyone would take me seriously. Hey, I didn’t take me seriously.

What I did do (on the phone and in classified ads in a bar journal) was contact other attorneys and let them know I was available for (a) appearances and (b) overflow work. And that actually worked. It gave me some breathing room until I could figure out how to get some clients of my own.

If you’re a new attorney today, opening your own practice, I suggest you do the same. It’s a great way to generate immediate income and get some hands on experience.

But the first thing you should do is set up a website.

Not a page in an online directory or a free website, but your own site. A domain name you own and a site that you host. You don’t need anything fancy. You don’t have to spend a lot of money. You can either do it yourself–if I can learn, you can learn–or pay someone $100 to set up the site for you. Monthly costs are less than $10.

Add lots of content to your site, to show people what you know and how you can help them. Educate people about the law and procedure. Show them what they need to know. Answer their questions, show them their options, and help them understand what to do.

Yes, you should also tell them about the services you offer. But fill your website primarily with information prospective clients want to know about their legal problems and the available solutions . Give them enough information and they will see that you can deliver those solutions.

Make sure your content has appropriate keywords so clients can find you via search. And make sure your site has social media sharing enabled so visitors to your site can share your content with their friends and contacts.

As you gain experience, update your site with additional content–articles, blog posts, reports, checklists–and stories of how you have helped your clients solve problems.

Start building a list. Not everyone who visits your site is ready to hire you. Capture their email address so you can stay in touch with them, notify them when you post new content, and remind them that you are still available to help them or people they know.

When you meet someone who might be a prospective client or referral source, send them to your website so they can learn about what you do.

What’s next? Well, that depends on you. You can continue to build your practice primarily online. You can join networking groups and do public speaking. You can create a free seminar or webinar and “allow” other professionals and centers of influence to invite their clients.

But here’s the thing. Your best source of new clients is referrals from existing and former clients. So, as soon as you have a few clients who are happy with your work, you should leverage those relationships to generate new business.

You can ask for referrals directly but you have another option: ask your clients to refer people to your website and the great content you have available.

How does a new attorney get clients? The same way an old attorney gets clients. Plus appearances and overflow.

The Attorney Marketing Formula. How attorneys get clients.

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Filed Under: Advertising, Business cards, Client loyalty, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Networking, Online Marketing, Referrals, SEO, Social media marketing Tagged With: , , , , ,

Promote someone else’s business or practice today

April 26, 2013 by
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I’m sure you know other professionals or businesses you would recommend to your clients and contacts. If someone asked you for a referral, you would enthusiastically offer up their name.

Instead of waiting to be asked for a referral, I want you to take some time today to tell everyone you know all about this outstanding individual or company.

Write an article and publish it on your blog or in your newsletter. Send a solo email to your list. Make sure you tell everyone you see in the office today or talk to on the phone.

Tell them why you recommend them. What makes them different? What do they do that is remarkable?

If you’ve used them personally, share the story. If your clients or friends have used them, mention that, too.

Give out their website. Tell people to subscribe to their blog or newsletter, download their report, or Like their page. Ask people to buy their products or services and refer everyone they know.

Promote someone else’s business or practice today.

Do it because you want to help the people you know find quality products and services. Do it because you appreciate the business owner or professional and want to support their good work. Do it because it feels good to say nice things about someone.

But don’t do it because you want that business or professional to do something similar for you.

Yes, they might reciprocate. If they do, be happy for them. It’s nice to receive, but the true joy is in the giving.

Marketing is easy when you know what to do. Here’s the formula.

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Filed Under: Client relations, Marketing legal services, Referrals, Relationship marketing

Stop marketing to people who don’t hire lawyers

April 25, 2013 by
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Yesterday, I wrote about clients who need what you offer but don’t necessarily want what you offer. Your job, I said, was to convince them to want what you know they need.

I also said you should (primarily) focus on attracting new clients who already know they want what you offer. Stop marketing to people who don’t hire lawyers.

A lawyer asked me to clarify.

If you owned a restaurant that served steaks and chops, would you advertise in a vegetarian magazine? Hey, you might convince a few readers who have been thinking of giving up vegetarianism, or who occasionally eat meat, that they should try your place. Or, maybe people in their family aren’t vegetarian and will see your ad.

Wouldn’t you be better off advertising in magazines where other steak houses advertise, and show their readers why you have the best steaks in town?

It’s much easier and more profitable to market to people who already buy what you’re selling.

When people are sued, not everyone will hire a lawyer. Some don’t want to spend the money and try to settle it themselves. Some defend it pro se. Some ignore the problem and hope it will go away. Some are judgment proof or are already planning to file bankruptcy.

The point is, not everyone who NEEDS an attorney WANTS to hire one. Don’t spend a lot of time convincing them. Target people who have already demonstrated their willingness to spend money on attorneys:

  • The ones who go to search engines to find attorneys who handle their issue
  • The ones who ask their friends on social media for recommendations
  • The ones who read articles written by attorneys
  • The ones who attend seminars to learn about their options
  • The ones who already have an attorney but are unhappy and are looking to change

Tailor your marketing to appeal to people who use attorneys and show them why they should choose you.

Let’s say you are a small business attorney and you are scheduled to do a luncheon talk for small business owners on a subject of your choosing. You could do a talk about why business owners should have an attorney review their contracts and leases before they sign them. Or, you could talk about a new law that affects small businesses in your community or niche market.

Let’s say the room is 50/50 people who regularly hire attorneys and people who don’t.

If you talk about “why attorneys,” you may or may not convince some who don’t use attorneys. But you are definitely not showing the people who already hire attorneys why they should hire you. They already know “why attorneys”. Yawn.

If you talk about the new law, however, you’re showing everyone in the room something valuable. The group who hires attorneys may conclude that their existing or former attorney didn’t tell them things like this and maybe they should give you a closer look.

Ironically, you’re also showing the other half, the ones who don’t use attorneys, why they should start. They may not have realized that an attorney (like you) can help his clients protect themselves by being aware of new laws like the one you are talking about.

Stop marketing to people who don’t hire attorneys. Sell your steaks to meat eaters.

Get The Attorney Marketing Formula before your competition does. Click here.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services
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